Mystery Men II The DEATHMAN Affair
by Garth Edwards
Summary: It's been seven years since the death of Captain Amazing. Many supervillains tried to defeat the new 'wannabe' Mystery Men, but all went down in defeat. Now comes a new villain..one that shouldn't even be alive: DEATHMAN! But he's supposed to be dead!
1. Chapter 1

Champion City...

Seven years after the death of Captain Amazing...

Friday night...Ten p.m...

Waterfront District...

Old Western Avenue and Harbour Front Drive...

Moonlight and city lights rippled and played on the dark blue waters of Usher Harbour. The moon was low over the waves and only the sheerest wisps of clouds streaked across the horizon. Blinking radio towers reached upwards towards the twinkling stars and droning aeroplanes floated slowly over the brilliant skyscrapers of Champion City.

In the center of the city, facing east, stood the towering statue of Captain Amazing...now darkened and unlit for seven years in memory of the city's former great hero who had fallen in battle against the supervillain 'Casanova-Frankenstein'.

But Champion city was alive tonight.

Excitement bubbled throughout the futuristic metroplex of superheroes and supervillains. From the lost souls who scraped out an existence below the cobbled streets, to the rich and powerful who danced regally on the rooftop verandas...the night held a kind of...

...'action fever'.

It was the sterling anniversary of the first appearance of the new heroes of Champion City...The mighty 'MYSTERY MEN' who had defeated Casanova-Frankenstein and his deadly gangs just seven years ago and avenged the death of Captain Amazing.

And...for seven long embattled years...the Mystery Men had protected Champion City just as Captain Amazing had done.

Supervillains had left the shadows and bestrode the city openly once the news of Captain Amazing's death was announced. Every super criminal, new and old, tried to overrun the super-metropolis and overwhelm the new heroes with their superhuman powers and evil abilities.

But the Mystery Men had prevailed.

Yes...every villain had gone down into bitter defeat! The Locust Master! Baron Cocktail and the Happy Hour Bandits! Nerve Man! The Singe-er!  Crux Windlestraw! (The Man of Antimatter!) Lady Jade and the Rhinestone Gang! The Sweeper! Fancy Dan the Danger man! The Man with the Golden Gimp!...None had prevailed against the Mystery Men!

And then...the scariest villain of all...the nameless one...the 'Harrowing Nightshade' himself!...had attacked...had failed...had fallen...

...and for one whole year...Champion City knew an 'amazing' peace once more. 

...until today.

Now the city held it's collective breath...

For it was rumored that a new super villain had surfaced...

...one more dangerous than any that Champion City or the Mystery Men had ever faced before...

...one that was about to launch a wave of evil such as the world had never known...

...and that once again...the fabled 'Mystery Men'...were on the prowl for evildoers.

A trio of policeboats quietly patroled past the boats and barges moored along the old waterfront. The boats rocked peacefully in their splashy wakes and muted groans from tightening and slackening mooring ropes was momentarily heard above the distant honks of motorcars and the rumble of subterranean streetcars.

The ten o'clock patrol was on time.

Suddenly a spotlight shot out from the hindmost patrol boat and cut across the docks. It flashed all along the row of boathouses and sailboats at the end of the pier.

A dark figure took quiet note of the police boats passing by and drifted further into the shadows near an old, abandoned crane. A ship's horn was heard in the distance as the patrol boat's spotlight darted left and right...searching for evil.

Finding nothing, it winked out finally...and the ten o'clock patrol moved on.

The dark figure re-emerged from the shadows and watched the harbour patrol as they shrank back into the distant night. He pulled out a fuzzy wide-brimmed hat and a pair of glittering sunglasses. Putting them on, he stood and let his eyes adjust to the dark.

It was Adrian...The 'A' Man...last of the 'Disco Boys'.

Adrian felt better wearing the old hat and glasses. He felt that surge of 'Disco-Power' that he always used to feel back in the day. Yes...he was still a 'Disco Boy' after all...and he had a solemn responsibility to look the part...even out here on the docks. Even after all these years, Disco was still his inspiration...his rep,...his identity...his religion. Only he, the 'A' Man, was left...having eluded capture after the destruction of his whole gang at the hands of the 'Mystery Men'.

"HAAAWWWCK!...Pi-THoooo!"

Adrian spit as thought of those stupid wannabe heroes. He'd helped stomp three of them real good once...right along with Tony 'P' and Tony 'C' and the rest of the Disco Boys...and right on Casanova's front porch. Man that felt good. Tony 'P' had wanted to kill them but Casanova had just laughed and said:

"Let za vermin run home. Zey are not worze rizzking a poleeze invez-digay-shun."

Boy was that a mistake.

When the roof caved in and Casanova got thrown into his own death machine ( the 'psychofrakulator' ) he had run like hell and hid in the trunk of Casanova's ruined Corvette limosine and waited until the explosions died down.

Adrian chuckled.

Everybody else had died in the massive blast wave. Only he had had the 'Luck of the Duck' and walked away unscathed. Who'd a-thought those wimpy wannabes could mix it up like that! He'd scatted out afterwards with all of Casanova's secondary back-up computer files that were kept hidden in the limo's trunk.

Adrian patted the metallic file box of the late Casanova-Frankenstein which was stuffed under his fox-fur coat. For years he had tried to sell these files on the supervillain black market and make a final 'big score'. But no one had dared to touch them. They were all afraid of the wrath of the Mystery Men.

Tonight was different though. Tonight his fortune would be made and his oh-so-careful patience rewarded.

Someone had placed an ad in the new 'Hero classifieds' with the secret code-words he'd noised about: 'Ode to joy'. The number of this pier (sixty-six) and the name of this barge (the 'Argo') had followed along with a nifty little price code: '2001'

...which meant 200,000 dollars...and who knows?...maybe the money he would score tonight would be enough to bring back Disco! Anything was possible where Disco was concerned. Adrian recalled what Tony 'P' always used to say...

"Disco is not dead!...Disco is LIFE!"

'But', Adrian thought, he had to be ultra-careful tonight...tonight of all nights!'  The 'A' Man had went to great lengths to make sure he wasn't being followed. He had back-tracked and hitched rides for hours until he was positive that nothing human or superhuman could have followed his weasely trail!

Adrian looked out towards the water again. The patrol boats were completely gone now...and nothing stirred...nothing at all.

Time to move...

Like a wary wharf rat, the 'A' Man hugged the sides of tin buildings and empty steel containers as he made his way towards the last wharf. He hugged his package close to him under his filthy fox-fur coat. Looking every which-way and ducking behind dumpsters, he slowly made his way towards a dark gray barge moored at the end of the pier.

When he got near the barge's gangplank, another dark figure, very tall and largely built, suddenly stepped out into the open to bar his way. The 'A' Man halted immediately and waited while the the tall man lit a cigarette. It was a longshoreman with an automatic weapon slung over one shoulder.

"Who da &# are you?" asked the dock guard lazily.

"It's me!" snorted the dark man in the furcoat, "Adrian...the 'A' man...man!"

The guard snorted.

"The 'A' Man huh?...Hey,...I wouldn't noise that around."

Adrian strode up to the big man.

"Ah gots bizness here fool."

"Yeah, yeah...we know." smiled the guard.

Suddenly three more guards appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Adrian.

"Whatcha got unner yer coat A-men?"

"Thass the 'A' MAN to you...and thass fo...fo me to know...ya know?"

"Izzit a gun?" asked one guard leveling his automatic weapon at Adrian.

Adrian whipped around to answer but too late...the guards were all over him.

While Adrian, the 'A' Man, cursed and tried to fend them off, the guards tore off his coat and hat and threw them onto the slimy dock. They laughed and flicked off his disco-specs and grabbed away his hidden 'package' and tried to open it. It refused to pry open and seemed crack-proof.

"This some kinda bomb 'A-men' ?"

Adrian just muttered "No...ain' no bomb fool!"

"Open it" drawled the guard, sticking his weapon under Adrian's nose.

It was not a request.

Adrian fearfully dug out a skeleton-shaped key from his polyester pants pocket and opened the metallic box with the engraved initials C.F. on the lid. Inside were glittering gold files with insane writing and technical drawings on them.

The guards flipped through the files one at a time until they were satisfied that there were no explosives in the box. They smirked at each other, then handed Adrian back his box.

"The boss is waiting down below A-men" said the first guard. "Move along...but quietly."

The guards retreated into the shadows again and Adrian, realizing that he wasn't going to get beat up (or worse) exhaled in relief. He walked up the gangplank with his box and quickly found a stairwell leading down into the main hold. It looked like an old barge on the inside for a few paces only...then it started to look like a scientist's bad dream.

Wires and techno-gear lined the walls. Puffing air hoses and bubbling tubes and glass balls were everywhere. Blinking lights and eerie noises wheezed and clicked all around him. Finally he came to large, metal bulkhead door with a huge vault wheel on it. He stopped and looked around for a door buzzer or something.

Suddenly a video camera on a robotic arm jammed itself in front of his face. Several antennas waved up and down on it and little lights blinked. He was being sniffed and scanned. Whoever he was going to meet was a very careful man...like himself. The scanning video camera purred as it sniffed him up and down, then satisfied, it retreated into a cubby hole to the right of the big door. The vault wheel in the center then started to turn and unscrew itself.

The door screeched opened and an ancient voice beckoned.

"Come in my young friend...come in. You've nothing to fear."

Adrian stepped inside the door and steeled himself for whatever or whoever.

"Come forward about three steps my friend!" said the ancient voice soothingly.

Adrian did as he was told. Then suddenly a bright light shone down from directly above his head and surrounded him where he stood.

"That's fine right there!" said another voice sternly.

Adrian began to feel his dinner twist in his guts. Raw fear had a tendency to do that.

"I brought the box" he said nervously.

"Tut, tut...I'm well aware of that" snapped the ancient voice from the dark."I'm more interested in how you came to have possession of the box."

Adrian, the 'A' Man, sighed and related everything from that fateful night seven years before. When he was done, the lights began to come on around the room.

Adrian found himself in a very large hold in the middle bottom of the barge which had been turned into some kind of laboratory. It was spacious and airy...and very clean inside...not like the outside areas...and it made Adrian feel somehow...'disheveled' (which he was). Overall, it looked almost alien inside. Compared to Casanova's castle, it was downright empty of decoration. But lights pulsed along the metal walls giving the room a sense of...'power'. Everything seemed to have a form designed around pure function. It was 'clinically' strange.

Finally an alcove at the far end of the hold began to brighten. There, sitting cross-legged in a heavy shadow and in a huge egg-shaped techno-chair, was the man with the ancient voice. On each side of his chair stood two huge guards (bigger and nastier looking than the ones outside) and each held a souped-up looking automatic weapon.

A careful kind of guy, thought Adrian.

"I am...convinced..." said the ancient voice.

"So we have a deal Man?" asked Adrian expectantly.

The old man in the chair wheezed cryptically...

"I'm afraid we have a deal whether you or I or the world likes it or not."

"So..." began Adrian, "I'll be gettin' mah moneys now right?"

The old man laughed.

"Yes...your moneys is right outside waiting for you my young Disco relic."

"Where bouts?" asked Adrian.

"Just go back to the deck and look for a medical box on the side of the wheelhouse. Open it and you'll find your...moneys."

Adrian set the precious metal box he had guarded for so long onto the floor and walked back towards the stairs. The steel door began to slowly close behind him. He allowed himself a stiff smile. Things were working out...sorta. As long as his money was there where the old man said it was, everything would be fine. If it wasn't...well...he could always send a note to the Mystery Men telling them where they could find the files.

Once he climbed the stairs and found the wheelhouse, Adrian the 'A' Man quickly spotted the medical box with it's big 'red cross' and quick-stepped over to it. He jiggled open the rusty latch and there...

...there it was!

Adrian practically fainted. A beautiful leather case with gold latches was inside the old box...just sitting as pretty as you please. He deftly clicked it open to see what was inside. He practically fainted again! It was stuffed with money...hard currency in tens, twenties and fifties! He'd done it!

Slowly, and with deliberate calm, the 'A' Man closed the medical box and turned towards the gangplank. He marched carefully down it about halfway and then stopped short.

Why,...Adrian asked himself,...are the dock guards laying down sleeping?

Suddenly, Adrian felt an intense heat on the back of his neck. He whirled around and came face to face with a fiery, crystal clear bowling ball with a skull in it!

THE MYSTERY MEN WERE HERE! 


	2. Chapter 2

**The Deathman Affair**

**by Garth Edwards**

**Chapter Two: The Mystery Men strike!**

_Champion City..._

_Seven years after the death of Captain Amazing...._

_Friday night...Ten p.m...._

_Waterfront District..._

_Armagezzmo's Barge._

The 'A' man back-peddled fearfully into the side of the wheel house.

"The Bowler's Daughter!" he gasped.

He'd been followed...but how?

The heat from the burning frightmare hovered directly in front of his face and kept him pinned against the wheelhouse. Adrian dropped the leather case full of money and began to plead for mercy.

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" he cried. "Take the money! It's yours...I don't want nuthin' wit it no more!"

Suddenly Adrian heard a slight whispering in his ear. It was a youngish voice but it had a hard-edge to it.

"Who did you give the file box to?" said the voice.

Adrian gulped hard. It had to be the 'Invisible Boy'. That was how he'd been followed...right to the barge.

"Iss just an old dude down there man! Don kill me pleeze! Don...jes don..you got the moneys an all..."

"Are there any traps down there...Disco Boy?" queried Invisible Boy calmly.

"No traps...jes scientific shid...and...and...there's two more guards with fancy hardware...and...and...dair-za door witta lock wheel or sumpin...look lak a bank vault door...wit a video camera dat looks you over first..."

The A-Man couldn't spill his guts any faster...but he tried.

"The old dude sits inna egg chair...he got the file box...there's weird lights and...and...pleeze don kill me!"

Adrian heard a third disembodied voice, nearly at his shoulder, say "Sounds truthful...what's his fate Sphinx?".

Adrian remembered that voice! That was the Shovelman! ( or 'The Shoveler') Oh God! Don't let the Shovelman remember Adrian's part in that stomping at Casanova's place years ago! Don't let him remember...don't let him remember...

Then he heard an older voice, close by...but also invisible, say "Checkerheads". It was probably the Sphinx thought Adrian.

That creepy invisible whisper was in his ear again.

"Turn yourself in to the police tonight...tell them you tried to sell stolen property...tell them the Mystery Men will call them later with the charges. Can you do that?"

"Yes...yes..." said Adrian releived. "I'll do dat...rights away now...rights away...no-ooo problem!"

The burning bowling ball backed off just enough for the A-man to quiver away from the bulkhead and stagger towards the gangplank.

"Get going!"

"Yezzir!...Turnin' mahsef in raht away! Yezzir!"

Adrian hurried down the gangplank and onto the wooden dock. He stepped over the lifeless guards and noticed that their automatic weapons were laying next to them...cut completely in half! A rush of memory stopped him cold...he remembered a time seven years ago. A time when this had happened to his own weapon in a dark alley. His 'Disco heat' had been cut in half along with the entire Disco Boy's arsenal...seemingly by magic!

He started to turn and run towards the dock gate when he felt himself grabbed from behind and lifted into the air by invisible hands!

"AAA-AAAH!" shreiked the A-Man, terrified to the core.

A deep voice rumbled then...a new but familiar voice...more a hissing growl than any human speech...now snarled at him!

"YOU!....DISCO-FR-rrrREAK!"

Adrian's heart beat like a trip hammer. He was being held aloft and shaken by ghostly, invisible hands and worst of all, he thought he could just make out red glowing eyes in front of his face, staring ferociously into his own...boring into his soul!

"PLEEZE DON' KILL ME! PLEEZE!" begged Adrian.

"I rrr-remember you! You were at Casanova's! You and your gang STOMPED us!"

It was Mr. Furious...invisible and enraged!...waving him in the air like a rag doll!

"Let him go Roy!" Adrian heard the Shoveler say. "We haven't got time for this!"

Adrian nearly fainted. He was a dead disco duck for sure.

"Hurrr-rrr....I don't believe he'll turn himself in. I think he needs to pay for his crimes right now!" snarled Mister Furious.

A nasally whine cut in just then. "Let him feel MY power!"

"Spleen! Down boy!" ordered the Shoveler."You too Roy! Our lawyers have enough on their hands right now. That squirrel is too scared to go anywhere except jail."

Adrian, the A-man, felt a strange warmth between his legs. He sighed dizzily as his eyes rolled backwards in their sockets.

Then he felt himself dropped to the dock in a heap.

"ArrGraaaH! HE WET HIMSELF!" snarled Furious.

"I say Furious...bad form!" commented a disembodied British accent (obviously the 'Blue Rajah'), "Let the poor devil make a sporting break for it!"

"Pleeze Sirs..." Adrian rasped, "Ah iz gon' turn mahsef in...don' you worry...turnin' mahsef in....don' need no mo' a dis...no moah...ah iz done...pure done!"

A female disembodied voice (probably the Bowler's Daughter) spoke up then. "I tend to belive him. I think that he'll follow through...if only to get some dry pants! "

"GET GOING!" roared Furious.

Adrian staggered to his feet and limped off in a dripping, bowlegged fashion.

The Mystery men watched him go, then turned their attention to the mysterious barge and it's owners.

"Now...let's see what's below!" said the Shovelor.

"Wait..." said the Sphinx, "...Daddy first!"

The Bowler's Daughter sent the fiery crystal ball levitating down the barge's stairway...searching for trouble.

"Okay everyone.." began the Shoveler, "Daddy will scout ahead as usual. Spleen!..."

"Yesh?" queried the Spleen.

"I want to see paint peeling all the way down. Invisible Boy?..."

"No problem here man..." replied Invisible Boy. "I can keep us all invisible for at least twenty minutes more."

"Good job son" replied the Shovelor. "You're up to a full hour now. Amazing."

"By the way everyone..." chimed the Blue Rajah, "Leave us NOT forget the suitcase with the cash! Hmmm? Our colorful charity work needs a green donation!"

"You grab it Jeff...just don't start counting it until we're outta here!" warned the Shovelor.

"Quiet everyone!" warned the Sphinx, "Let our mission continue without further interruptions! Our enemy awaits us...let's not give him any more time to prepare a welcome!"

"Righto!"

"Yesh...yesh...but can somebody pull my finger pleash?"

The Shovelor sighed. "I'll do it...but it's Roy's turn next time."

"Thanks Eddie...and I rrr-really mean that...I want you to know."


End file.
